Jennings' campaign has trumpeted declining violent crime while acknowledging more work remains to be done.

But Ellis counters by citing recent increases in burglaries and thefts — crimes he noted are viewed less seriously by the justice system but not necessarily by the victims and neighbors.

Ellis, who represents the Third Ward and is challenging four-term incumbent Jennings in next month's Democratic primary, said he would help return the city to "effective community policing" — a reference to a 2006 police department reorganization that some neighborhood groups feel has weakened ties with officers.

"The neighborhood associations don't feel safe," said Ellis, who opposed the reorganization. "And if they don't feel safe, it's not effective."

Police Chief James Tuffey billed the reorganization, with the closure of two of the city's four police stations, as a way to craft a more efficient, technology-driven department that would improve crime-fighting rather than a turn away from community policing.

The reorganization went hand-in-hand with a state-funded anti-crime program known as Operation IMPACT, which starting in 2004-05 teamed city cops with State Police. The program was intended to target violent crime in the 17 most violent communities outside of New York City, including Albany.

Jennings' campaign, through spokeswoman Carolyn Ehrlich, declined to the respond to Ellis' criticism. In campaign materials, the mayor has trumpeted efforts to improve community policing and afterschool programs.

Violent crime in Albany dropped nearly 19 percent in 2008 compared to 2005 and is trending down another 13.5 percent this year over last, according to data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Property crime — burglaries, thefts and car thefts — was also down nearly 10 percent in 2008 compared to 2005, a decline that would have been sharper had it not increased 3.6 percent from 2007 to 2008.

That increase, however, is indicative of other year-to-year peaks and valleys in crime stats that make long-term trends often difficult to ascertain.

Taken over a 10-year span, comparing 2008 to 1999, violent crime is actually up in the city more than 15 percent, buoyed by aggravated assaults.

Property crime, however, is down some 33 percent across the board in 2008 compared to 1999, according to DCJS. That includes three consecutive years of decline before last year's uptick.

Ellis spoke to reporters on the edge of Washington Park at the corner of Madison Avenue and Willet Street, where police say two young teens robbed two women at gunpoint last month before allegedly robbing another man on Dana Avenue in the nearby Park South neighborhood.

Perhaps nowhere has perception darkened as much as in Pine Hills, a transitional neighborhood of many students and young families between Albany's more urban lower wards and more suburban uptown sections.

In the wake of the unsolved murder of University at Albany student Richard Bailey last year and other incidents of street crime, the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association has formed a new public safety committee in hopes of improving safety and bolstering the Midtown Neighborhood Watch.

In a community forum Wednesday night, council members from the First and Seventh Wards around Second and Delaware Avenues — who have both backed candidates other than Jennings — ranked public safety among the most pressing issues in their neighborhoods.

Ellis pledged to help bring more officers back to the city's streets and neighborhoods without swelling their ranks and the city budget.

He said he would seek to open satellite offices in neighborhoods like Arbor Hill and Park South using space in existing storefronts, an idea in which he said some shopkeepers have already expressed interest.

He said he would also move quickly to implement the recommendations of the city's Gun Violence Task Force, which have sat dormant since January.

Jordan Carleo-Evangelist can be reached at 454-5445 or by e-mail at jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com.